Firm Foundation: 85-year-old passes along gift of knowledge by teaching

Sunday

Sep 30, 2012 at 10:17 PMSep 30, 2012 at 10:20 PM

Education is like a house, Berry Shirley likes to say.Shirley uses an analogy he knows best. At 85 years old and a home builder by trade, Shirley teaches math in the GED program at the Etowah County Detention Center.

BY LISA ROGERSTimes Staff Writer

Education is like a house, Berry Shirley likes to say.Shirley uses an analogy he knows best. At 85 years old and a home builder by trade, Shirley teaches math in the GED program at the Etowah County Detention Center. “If you get the foundation right, then the house will stand,” he said.Shirley said teaching math to the inmates is easy.“I don’t have to prepare for this. It just comes natural,” said Shirley, who has degrees in accounting and math from Lipscomb University in Tennessee. “They’re extremely interested. If you’re teaching somebody who wants to learn and by and by have good minds, my work is easy.”Shirley has taught Bible classes at the jail for seven years and began teaching math when the GED program was reinstated there two years ago.“I’m the best math teacher and the worst math teacher,” he said, chuckling. “I’m the only one they’ve got.”Shirley was the only person who volunteered to teach math when the program began, and the subject was the logical choice for him.He originally did accounting for a construction company, but began working on the building end of the business.Shirley went into business for himself and eventually built 2,500 houses in Huntsville before he moved to Rainbow City in 2003.“I never retired,” he said. “I just rub out the R-E.”Shirley became a volunteer Bible teacher through his church, Rainbow Church of Christ, seven years ago.He was in the jail twice a week, no matter what.“We came every time we were scheduled,” Shirley said. “Holidays didn’t mean anything. I knew the people would still be there. In reality, in Bible classes, you’ve got better attention from the inmates than a congregation.”He also teaches math classes four nights and doesn’t even think about giving it up.“It’s addictive,” he said.Shirley said the basis of the Bible classes goes a long way in teaching the math classes.“I talk about sense of self,” he said. “First lesson in there is that God is concerned about, ‘Who I am. I am a value.’”Shirley said statistics show the majority of people who study for a GED are lacking in math.He said some of the students use excuses.“They say, ‘I haven’t been in a classroom in so long,’” he said. “Well, the last time I was in a classroom was 1950, so that old dog won’t fly.”He said he doesn’t let anyone use the word “can’t.”“If someone says ‘can’t,’ I say, ‘Huh,’” he said. “I’ll just say ‘huh’ over and over. They know I’m toying with them.”Shirley said tests are done on students before classes begin to determine what each one needs most.For those who need math, he uses easy methods. “I tell them I’ve got a simple mind, so I’ve got to teach in simple methods,” he said.Shirley said he believes in the GED program, especially at the detention center.“If they don’t have a GED and get it while they’re in jail, the statistics for them to return to jail drop drastically,” he said. “It’s extremely important to get a GED because they will want to better themselves once they get out.”Forty-nine inmates — 12 women and 37 men — have obtained their GED since the program at the jail was revived.For Shirley, the job is fulfilling.“The best part is when I see the light bulb come on,” he said, “when you see that someone gets it. When I see a difference with the impact it has in their lives, I appreciate that and it charges my battery.”Shirley sees his knowledge as a gift, and he wants to share it.“Everyone has a gift, and that gift is from the Lord,” he said. “Do we waste that gift or develop it into its greater potential?”He said he believes many older people “are being put out to pasture,” and not using their gifts and talents. “If they don’t use it, they sit down and they’re waiting for the undertaker to come and get them,” he said. “We’ve got so much out there that can be done after a person retires. It would be a great service to mankind. When we look toward retirement and quit, we’re hanging up everything on the wall. We’re going to die soon if we don’t put that gift to good use.”Shirley said when he got out of college, his idea was to help mankind.“I’ve tried to direct my life toward that,” he said.Dee Pruett, Gadsden State adult education teacher, who coordinates the GED program at the jail, said Shirley has made an impact with his willingness to volunteer there and to help others.“Berry Shirley is a great blessing and inspiration to so many people,” Pruett said. “He has faithfully volunteered four nights a week to teach math at the Etowah County Detention Center.”Sgt. Allen Weston, program director at the detention center, said without Shirley, the inmates would not have done as well.“He has been a tremendous help to this program,” Weston said. “I am thankful to have him around.”

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